At the center, two 17-year-old boys. One is killed, the other now charged with murder.

It was a clash of rival gangs in the Payne-Phalen neighborhood, authorities said Wednesday.

Vincent A. Allison was shot dead on the night of July 11. On Wednesday, Kelvin Donald Nickles was charged with second-degree intentional murder and crime for the benefit of a gang.

“The fact that you’ve got two young people, one accused of a crime … and another 17-year-old dead, his life taken much too early, is a tragic thing about all of this gunplay among young people,” Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said Wednesday.

Witnesses told police they saw a group of young males chasing a smaller group of young men down Payne Avenue, according to a juvenile petition filed by the Ramsey County attorney’s office.

One witness said 30 people were involved. At first, he thought they were play fighting.

Then, witnesses heard a gunshot, and the young men fled. Everyone except Allison. He was left lying on the ground.

“I’m hit,” he told a witness, according to the petition, and asked her to call 911.

A witness identified as a member of the Gutta Block gang said he was walking with Allison and another friend when 20 to 30 members of the rival Ham Crazy gang confronted them, according to the petition.

The witness said words were exchanged and an argument quickly turned physical.

He said that when a young man he knew as “Kelvin/K-Wild” emerged from an alley, dressed in black and wearing a hoodie, his group began to run.

The witness said he heard a “pop” and Allison yell. He said he believed Kelvin/K-Wild had fired a shot because he had had a gun in the alley before the fight.

Police identified Kelvin/K-Wild as Nickles, according to the petition.

The second youth who was with Allison said the rival gang members had been fighting earlier.

Nickles, who was arrested Friday, gave police various accounts of what led to the shooting and said it was gang related,.

According to the petition, Nickles said he was present during the altercation and heard the gunshot.

Security video from nearby businesses showed a large group of people chasing a small group when a person in a dark hoodie stopped in the street and took what appeared to be a “shooting stance,” the petition said. The person then appeared to tuck something into his waistband and run.

An investigator said that person was “consistent with the appearance” of Nickles.

The only person seen in the video wearing a dark hoodie was the shooter, and Nickles told police he was wearing a dark hoodie.

Prosecutors have filed a motion to certify Nickles to adult court for prosecution. The certification hearing is scheduled for Aug. 15.

Allison’s family did not respond to a Pioneer Press request for comment Wednesday. Nickles’ mother declined to comment.

Police said there have been several fights between the two gangs, usually in the streets around Payne Avenue. But the fights have been lopsided — police had documented more than 50 Ham Crazy members, while there are fewer than 15 Gutta Block members, a report said.

When Ham Crazy (police say the ‘Ham’ stands for Hoes And Money) started several years ago, it came about because its members were initially not allowed to join the East Side Boys gang because of their young ages, the report said. Several of the original members are now 16 to 18.

Police believe a group of other males from the East Side became resentful of the popularity of Ham Crazy and decided to start their own gang called Gutta Block nearly two years ago.

Police also say both gangs made it their goal to become the second most influential gang behind the East Side Boys.

Mara Gottfried has been a Pioneer Press reporter since 2001, mostly covering public safety. Gottfried lived in St. Paul as a young child and returned to the Twin Cities after graduating from the University of Maryland. You can reach her at 651-228-5262.

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